Pages

Thursday, May 24, 2018

Hello all! WOTC is continuing to bring us old TSR games back in print. Well, print on demand. I'll say, that's good enough for me. The newest offering is TSR's great western RPG, Boot Hill, 3rd edition, in a very affordable print. You can get the pdf for $9.99 or the POD for $19.99. Right now, there is a discounted price to get both for the low price of $21.99. That's a pretty good price for a print RPG these days.

Two rows of unpainted wooden buildings face each other across the wide, dirt street. A signboard creaks mournfully in the hot wind. Down this track rides a lone figures, tired but alert. His boots, hat, and buckskin jacket are alayered with dust. But the ivory-handled revolver on his hip is spotless and cool. Neither a beacon nor a threat, it's simply there, a part of the man.Drift back to the days of cattle drives, dance halls, range wars, and gunslingers. The BOOT HILL Wild west role-Playing Game lets you relive the grand adventure of the American Frontier. It's a wide open land where a man with strength, determination, and courage can carve a place for himself.This 3rd edition of the classic BOOT HILL game is thoroughly revised and updated.It includes:

Extensive campaign guidelines plus historical background and a timeline of the Old West;

Two historical gunfight scenarios plus numerous short adventures;

Fold-out maps of Promise City and the surrounding territory.

Note on the Softcover print-on-demand book: The maps are included as separate pages in the back of this version of the book. If you intend to use the maps at your table it is recommended that you purchase the PDF + Softcover combo and print the maps from the PDF.

A portion of sales from affiliate links go to help fund Gamers & Grognards and Appendix N Entertainment.﻿

Monday, May 21, 2018

One of my favorite systems of all time, outside of those based upon D&D is the WEG D6 system. I absolutely love it. One of my favorite games ever published using it was Ghostbusters. Guess what? Yaruki Zero Games has cloned WEG Ghostbusters, in the form of Spooktacular: A Cheerfully Spooky Role-Playing Game! What's more? It's the Deal of the Day over on Drivethru RPG! You can get the PDF for $3.99 or the POD for only $15.99 with the PDF. They also have a set of cards, similar to those that came in the Ghostbusters Boxed Set back in the day. This is very much worth a look if you love the D6 system, or the old Ghostbusters games.

Who’re you going to ask for a quote through their website? Wraithzappers!”

Spooktacular is an updated retroclone of a forgotten gem of 1980s RPG design, letting your play out the hilarious adventures of paranormal investigators who use dodgy science, possibly dangerous bleeding-edge paratechnology, and sheer chutzpah to capture ghosts and make a living.
In addition to all the rules you need to play this new take on an elegantly simple hidden classic of RPG design, this book includes:

Archetypes that give each character a nifty special ability, and optional Weird Archetypes so you can have an esper, witch, or other weirdo join the team.

A selection of wacky ghost-hunting gear. In addition to the basic etheric ray throwers and such, there are things like the Ghost Punchers (special gauntlets that do in fact let you punch ghosts) and Etheric Grenades (special grenades that blow ghosts up).

Three sample ghost-hunting companies (Wraithzappers, Ghost Rooter, and Phantom Finders) in various states of funding and legitimacy, as well as simple guidelines for making up your own company.

Short guides to ghost-hunting in the cities of Albuquerque, London, Orlando, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington D.C.

Sample story ideas and a story generator table.

A selection of premade ghosts, ranging from the nagging Ancestor to the absurdly dangerous Ghostzilla.

To play you'll need some pencils and paper, a bunch of six-sided dice (with at least one in a different color to be the Spooky Die), a few friends, and a few hours to play. Green novelty beverages are recommended but not required, especially since they haven't made them in a while now.

Want to make a Spooktacular character for an upcoming game or just for the heck of it? Click on Full-size Preview above if you don't mind dealing with having the words "Sample file" getting in the way a bit!

Have the game but wish you had handy reference cards for it? Guess what? Thanks to DTRPG offering POD cards, there's a set of Spooktacular Reference Cards for $7.99 plus shipping!

A portion of sales from affiliate links go to help fund Gamers & Grognards and Appendix N Entertainment.

Thursday, May 10, 2018

If you have been eyeing the Dolemwood materials from Necrotic Gnome Productions, there is no time better than now to buy in. Put out by the same publisher that brought us B/X Essentials and Theorems & Thaumaturgy, Dolemwood brings Weird Fantasy to the table. Made for B/X games, the weirdness of the setting makes it perfect for running Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Role Playing campaigns. Currently, Necrotic Gnome is having a huge sale on the entire line! You can currently get over $123 worth of product for under $55! More information on the setting and a link to the sale can be found below.

Dolmenwood is a weird folklore campaign setting — creepy, whimsical, and psychedelic in equal measure — for B/X and other vintage fantasy games. This document, formatted for ease of home-printing, is an introductory guide for players taking their first footsteps under the eaves of this mythic forest and discusses the major locales, the sentient races which inhabit them, and the factions which vie for power.

In-depth detail on the setting, suitable for referees, is furnished in the seasonal Wormskin zine. Each issue uncovers various elements of this eldritch realm situated on the leafy verges of Fairy, where austere Drunes rub elbows with weird elf-lords and talking beasts, where witches wander skyclad and armed with sinister magicks to bind the spirits of hapless adventurers.

Saturday, May 5, 2018

Happy OERAD! Today we celebrate the game that introduced the world to role playing games. Today we celebrate Original Dungeons & Dragons (first released in 1974) it's clones and derivative games! I hope you enjoy the posts and products linked below, in honor of the first published role playing game!

Updates will be made a couple times throughout the day as some folks will be working through the day to get several posts up. Keep checking back! The Index will be updated throughout the day!

A Catalog of Original Dungeons & Dragons Based Games

We've lucked out this year, as it turns out that OneBookShelf is having a HUGE sale on D&D and it's imitators. This includes OD&D and most clones! Links to the games below will, for the most part, take you to the OneBookShelf page for the specific product, where you can learn more about each game and what it is about. Most product links on this page are affiliate links and some of the profit from sales will benefit this blog and the creation of our own OD&D based game "Gateway To Adventure."

Original Dungeons & Dragons - The boxed set that started it all. This set contained three booklets that laid the groundwork for the most popular rpg in the world. Today this would be referred to as "the core rules."

Greyhawk: Supplement I - The first supplement for Dungeons & Dragons. It introduced many rules still familiar today. Based upon the campaign of Gary Gygax.

Blackmoor: Supplement II - The second supplement for Dungeons & Dragons. Based upon the campaign notes of creator Dave Arneson, this introduced the first module as well as underwater adventuring rules and many of the iconic water based creatures still found in modern editions of the game.

Eldritch Wizardry: Supplement III - The third supplement for Dungeons & Dragons introduced psionic combat, the druid class and two of D&D's most iconic Demon Princes!

White Box Gothic - This is a "what if" sort of game where it replaces the fantasy influence on D&D with Gothic horror in the vein of Hammer and Universal Horror films, as invisioned by James Spahn of Barrel Rider Games.

White Star - White Star is another game from Barrel Rider Games that replaces the fantasy element of the game. This time with Sci-Fi, and the results are fantastic.

Night Owl Workshop - Night Owl Workshop has a slew of games based upon the original game! All of them being reimaginings of the game in different genres. Warriors of the Red Planet places the game in Edgar Rice Burroughs's Barsoom, while Freebooters takes the game to the Age of Sail. All games are worth looking into, as well as the OD&D bestiary "Beasties."

Crypts & Things - A variant system based upon Swords & Wizardry using pulpy Swords & Sorcery as the setting.

Champions of Zed - Champions of Zed is a clone of the original boxed set, combining additional material from earlier documents, that could possibly be referred to as "playtest" documents of Proto-D&D.

Blueholme Prentice Rules & Bluehome Journeymanne Rules - John Eric Holmes wrote a set of rules for D&D which clarified the rules found in the original game. Though it is not officially a part of the original game, these rules are close and were meant to be a tool for ease of playing the game. Therefore they are a part of this celebration. There is not version of Holmes's rules currently on the market, but we do have the Blueholme clone of his rule set. The Prentice Rules follow the original version that Dr. Holmes wrote, taking characters to level 3. The Journeymanne Rules are an imagining of what Holmes may have done had his rules gone to level 20.

Blog Posts, Articles, Podcasts & Other Media

3d6, Traps and Thieves: Mothshade Concepts- For a couple years now, David Hill of Mothshade Concepts has been writing quality OD&D supplements meant to be used with the original game, based upon his home campaigne, using the format of the original Little Brown Books. Here, he talks about the creation of these great supplements.

Original Edition Delta - OED releases a new digest-sized listing of all the monster EHDs (Equivalent Ht Dice) listed in the Monster Database. These have been found by computer Monte Carlo simulations (several million sample combats each). Use these for encounter balancing, XP awards, etc

Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Original Edition Role Playing Appreciation Day is Saturday May 5th! That's just over two weeks away! The announcement was initially made here.If you're company is planning a giveaway through the official page, get an email to me so your products can get into the drawing. Remember, the deadline for all submissions and sales is coming up on Saturday at 12:00 PM!

This year I have opened up the participation of what sorts of games might be involved as well as supported activities.

GAME SYSTEMS ALLOWED:

Your article, product, podcast, public game etc. must focus on Original Dungeons & Dragons or one of it's derivatives.

Derivatives of the derivatives will also be accepted: White Star, Crypts & Things, The Hero's Journey etc.

Additionally I will accept Holmes basic and Blueholme, as the Holmes version of the game was intended as a cleaned up, easy access version of the original game.

The following will NOT be accepted: Basic/Expert, BECMI, Rules Cyclopedia, AD&D or any direct derivatives of these. I know there are those that count all "Basic" versions of the game as OD&D, but that is not our definition here, or for the purposes of this day. Only the Original game from 1974, it's supplements and derivatives of these (and compatible materials, supplements and modules) will be accepted.

This year, I am putting out the call for PUBLIC OE GAMES! If you want to run a game publicly, either in person at a store or online on OERAD (May 5th) it would be a fantastic way to get these systems in front of people and help garner interest. Submitting a game to be played publicly on OERAD: If you want to submit a game, email me at luxfaust@gmail.com NO LATER THAN Saturday April 28th! The subject line should real "OERAD Public Game." I will get a post up by Monday April 30th with listings on locations and hangout games that will be available for public attendance. If you are creating a blog, podcast, new product or sale for the day, these are your guidelines:

- Write a post, article, free pdf, podcast etc. related to OD&D, accepted systems listed above, or get a sale going with product you already have or announce a new release..

-Email me with a link to you blog, website etc. By 12:00PM Eastern Standard Time on Saturday, May 5th. Email both your link and title/sale.

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Original Edition Role Playing Appreciation Day is Saturday May 5th! The announcement was initially made here.

Time for this week's OERAD post. We have an official logo! The recognizable Lizardman (now in a more dynamic pose) was drawn by +Clayton Williams from Lansing, MI. If you like what you see you can check out more of Clay's work here on his Instagram account. If you like his stuff and have a project that needs some groovy art, throw some work his way. Feel free to attach the logo to any OERAD posts or events you might have.

Additionally, remember to get cracking on any submissions, we are only a few weeks away from the big day. Submission guidelines can be found here.

Derivatives of the derivatives will also be accepted: White Star, Crypts & Things, The Hero's Journey etc.

Additionally I will accept Holmes basic and Blueholme, as the Holmes version of the game was intended as a cleaned up, easy access version of the original game.

The following will NOT be accepted: Basic/Expert, BECMI, Rules Cyclopedia, AD&D or any direct derivatives of these. I know there are those that count all "Basic" versions of the game as OD&D, but that is not our definition here, or for the purposes of this day. Only the Original game from 1974, it's supplements and derivatives of these (and compatible materials, supplements and modules) will be accepted.

If you want to take part in the festivities this year, here is what to do:

- Write a post, article, free pdf, podcast etc. related to OD&D, accepted systems listed above, or get a sale going with product you already have or announce a new release..

-Email me with a link to you blog, website etc. By 12:00PM Eastern Standard Time on Saturday, May 5th. Email both your link and title/sale.